Religion News: First icons of Peter and Paul uncovered

Weekly religion rail, with items on new technology that uncovered religious paintings, a survey about religion and abortion, getting to know the author of the song "Simple Gifts," and more.

New technology has helped uncover the first known icons of the apostles Peter and Paul, and the earliest known images of the apostles John and Andrew.

According to wire reports, the paintings were found in the Santa Tecla catacomb, an underground burial chamber in Rome. Restorers used lasers to burn through centuries-old calcium carbonate deposits without damaging the paintings underneath.

The square ceiling includes icons of Peter, Paul, John and Andrew surrounding an image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Restorers believe the images date from the second half of the 4th century.

This Week in Religion

On June 25, 1976, Missouri Gov. Christopher S. Bond issued an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused the Latter Day Saints.

On June 30, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, began.

Survey Says

A Barna study of 1,001 adults explored Americans’ views on abortion by asking if they believe “abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases, or illegal in all cases.”

Among evangelical Christians, 78 percent believe that the practice should be illegal in all or most cases, a proportion close to the 72 percent of atheists and agnostics who support keeping the practice legal.

Good Book?

“Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ” by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

Christians have made the gospel about so many things -- things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, formulas, "its" and "things" have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory and the reality of the Lord Jesus himself.

“Jesus Manifesto” presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world-and a church-that has lost sight of him.

Read this book and see your Lord like you've never seen him before.

-- Amazon.com

Get to Know …

Joseph Brackett Jr. (1797–1882) was an American songwriter and elder of the Shakers, also known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing.

He was born in Cumberland, Maine, and died in the Shaker community of Sabbathday Lake at New Gloucester, Maine.

Brackett is known as the author of the Shaker dancing song “Simple Gifts,” which has become well known both through his original version and many of its adaptations. The song, written in 1848, was largely unknown outside of Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used the melody in his 1944 composition "Appalachian Spring."

Brackett's tune is also known widely through the lyrics "The Lord of the Dance" written by Sydney Carter in 1963.

The Word

Annunciation: This refers to the announcement to Joseph (in Matthew 1:20) and to Mary (Luke 1:26-35) of Jesus' future birth. – religioustolerance.org